2.19.2007

I was used to beryl being... ok. Reason: firefox and google earth were really jerky. I thought it was just beryl, ho hum, oh well.

I realized that the new version of beryl fixed many problems, and so i tried resetting some things I had changed, in order for Beryl to work. Well, beryl worked, and I got my smooooooth firefox and google earth back!

So if anyone reading this uses Beryl (i seriously doubt it... unless you are coming from a forum, *hi guys*), make sure you try setting everything under Advanced Beryl Options to "Automatic"! Makes everything smoother!

2.07.2007

Hey guys, why don't you try out a flourescent bulb? These bulbs are just like regular bulbs, but use a 7th of the energy, and last 7 times longer! They are a bit more expensive, but they last longer, so it balances out. Our entire house is running with them, except for two bulbs (we will change them ASAP).

Also, the picture may be misleading, because the light from the bulbs we have is very yellow and almost indistinguishable from normal incandescents.

One difference which doesn't matter much is it takes them about 30 seconds to get to full brightness. So when you turn them on they seem just a bit dim. They brighten up to the brightness of a normal bulb though. And they don't get so hot!

One tip when buying: Don't get the "Sunlight" or "Daylight" kinds--they seem to be the blueish ones (annoying marketing there...). They are BEYOND depressing in a house. We had a couple of those once.

(got the image from wikipedia and uploaded it to blogger to save their bandwidth, just so you know... search for "compact flourescent bulb" in wikipedia and you'll find the original file)